Cannibal (Cuenca, 2013)

Last updated on: July 15, 2014 at 4:56 pm by Kenneth R. Morefield

Cannibal (Cuenca, 2013) 2014-07-15T16:56:55-05:00 Kenneth R. Morefield

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Cannibal (★) is a love story–at least it purports to be–between a mild-mannered tailor and the woman he can’t quite bring himself to murder. Before it comes to its inevitable (and overdue) conclusion, he kills his love interest’s sister, negotiates with the local church to sew a particularly valuable piece of fabric for a forthcoming religious parade, and, of course, takes communion with a priest solemnly intoning “this is my body…” Just once I’d like to see a movie cannibal go to church and have the sermon text end up being Ephesians 5:25. Or Matthew 5:15. Or…well, pretty much any other verse in the New Testament.

The Emperor Has No Clothes is perhaps the hardest type of review for me to write. If an artist is credible, one wants to presume that a failure to connect (or even understand) his work is one’s own fault and not that everyone who esteems it is being played for a fool. Manuel Martín Cuenca has garnered a number of awards and nominations from a variety of reputable film festivals, and his film has the deliberate pacing and thoughtful mise en scène that invariably plays better at a film festival than it ever does in your living room when you aren’t surrounded by a room full of people “ooh”ing and “aah”ing appreciatively.

I have not seen enough episodes of Hannibal or read enough of John Douglas’s exercises in profiling to profess to understand the pathology that drives people to cannibalism. Nevertheless, I don’t feel as though I’m going out on a limb by suggesting the film’s depiction of Carlos (its title character) is a bit of a cheat. Once the film starts down the plot path of having Carlos become attracted to the sister of his most recent victim, I paused the stream and tried for ten minutes to imagine every conceivable ending for such a situation. I came up with two: 1) he kills her, too; or 2) she discovers his secret before he gets around to killing her and turns him in. I can’t say I was keen for a movie about either situation, but sometimes you want to give pros the benefit of the doubt. In fact, the finale doesn’t follow either of those two scenarios, exactly. Rather than feeling relief, though, that just made me more annoyed, like the film was playing me false.

There’s some nice acting here, particularly from Olimpia Melinte in a role that reminds you that, oh yeah, Vera Miles was in Psycho too. Her character, at least, says and does things that I could imagine a woman finding herself in such a situation might. Credit Cuenta the director for letting his actors show rather than always tell. But I can’t imagine any cannibal acting as Carlos does, so by the end, the film is just too opaque. What are we to have learned or had confirmed about the human condition that justifies subjecting ourselves to this kind of horror? Much as with George Sluizer’s The Vanishing–another horrific film that I can’t quite understand why others esteem–I find that Cannibal‘s stylish beauty doubles rather than mitigates the repulsion I feel at the film’s lack of humanity. If you aren’t going to tell me anything true, at least don’t try to trick me into thinking it’s not ugly.

Cannibal is releasing July 28, 2014 from Film Movement on iTunes, Google/YouTube, PlayStation, Vudu and Xbox.

Disclosure--AS

Disclosure--DVDS

Reviews

Toronto International Film Festival 2013

Previous Post

July 10, 2014

Honour (Khan, 2014)

Next Post

July 17, 2014 Revisiting Rohmer's Six Moral Tales: The Bakery Girl of Monceau

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 10 Years Later 1999 Top 5 2007 Top 10 2008 Favorite Discoveries 2008 Top 10 2009 Favorite Discoveries 2009 Top 10 2010 Favorite Discoveries 2010 Top 10 2011 Top 10 2012 Top Ten 2013 Top Ten 2014 Top Ten Best Picture Winners Christian Spotlight on Entertainment Christianity Today Coming Soon Disclosure Disclosure--AS Disclosure--Book Disclosure--DVDS Disclosure--SEOL Disclosure--Travel Dissenting Opinion Elsewhere Emergenetics Essays Featured Film Fest DC--2014 Film Festivals Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2011 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014 Headline Interviews Laura on the Oscar Winners Podcasts Quick Impressions Reviews RiverRun Film Festival 2014 Television The Criterion Collection The Thin Place To Stream or Not to Stream? Top 10s and Other Lists Toronto International Film Festival 2009 Toronto International Film Festival 2010 Toronto International Film Festival 2011 Toronto International Film Festival 2012 Toronto International Film Festival 2013 Toronto International Film Festival 2014 Uncategorized Video Virginia Film Festival 2011 Virginia Film Festival 2013 Women's Film Festival 2012

Select a Month February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up what?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Anger Hatred Strife Trouble